Passport books, sold and coordinated by the non-profit organization Eastern National, can be purchased online or in national park bookstores across the United States. You can also get creative and easily make your own passport booklet for free. With your passport to adventure in hand, start collecting your Mississippi Gulf Coast NHA cancellation stamps that can be acquired at no cost at visitor centers, tourist attractions, and park ranger stations. The stamps, which are similar in nature to passport stamps in a traveler's national passport, serve as a record of your visits and can be collected and cherished for years to come.

There are nearly three dozen places to collect stamps across the Coast, and you can then further your collection while visiting America’s cultural, historical, and natural treasures as you travel across this great land.

You can find a complete list of local stops at www.msgulfcoastheritage.ms.gov. Here, you’ll also find other passport cancellation stations in the two other Mississippi NHAs, the Hills and the Mississippi Delta.

To begin this exciting pastime, a good place to start would be visiting the Coast’s Mississippi Welcome Centers. Enjoy yourself along the way as you also find cancellation locations at popular tourist attractions in the six coastal counties, such as the Pascagoula River Audubon Center, the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, Waveland’s Ground Zero Hurricane Museum, INFINITY Science Center, The Crosby Arboretum, Biloxi Lighthouse, Beauvoir, the Ohr- O'Keefe Museum of Art, and many more.

NPS.gov says, "There are hundreds of stamps to collect. There are also clubs around the country that host websites, blogs, and events that add an element of competition and storytelling to the fun of stamp-collecting.” When you participate in the Passport To Your National Parks® program, you help support America’s national parks.

For more information please visit www.nps.gov/subjects/heritageareas/nhas-passport.htm and www.msdeltaheritage.com/passport-mississippi. You can also learn more on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PassportToYourNationalParks.